Prime terror accused on the run in Kerala

A native of Marikkarakandi in Kannur, Nazeer is a prime accused in at least two murder cases apart from half a dozen other cases. However, according to sources, till Kerala’s long terror trail to Kashmir surfaced, he roamed around openly, even addressing religious indoctrination sessions in Kannur. Addressed as Ustad or Sheikh in his circles, he always moved in the company of security guards.

Apart from Nazeer, his family members like Abdul Jaleel and Majeed also allegedly had links with the four from the state who died in the Valley. Jaleel, an activist of the National Development Front, has reportedly told the police about frantic calls from Kashmir addressed to Nazeer. According to the police, Nazeer started out dealing in fake Indian currency. In fact, this is how he allegedly recruited youths for militancy.

In August 1999, he was held for “plotting to murder” then chief minister E K Nayanar. The assassination was reportedly planned to exert pressure on the Government to get Peoples Democratic Party leader Abdul Nasser Madani released on bail. Madani was then in jail in Tamil Nadu in connection with the Coimbatore serial blast case. He was arrested from Kozhikode while Nayanar was the chief minister.

Later, Nazeer was accused of planting a bomb at the Coimbatore Press Club in 2002 and burning a Tamil Nadu bus in Kochi in 2005, both for Madani’s cause. Nazeer is also charged with the murder of two youths in his locality over “un-Islamic” activities. While one of them, a Muslim, reportedly provoked his ire over an extra-marital affair, another, a Hindu, was hacked to death for having an illicit affair with the widow of an NRI Muslim.

Police say Nazeer had trained in explosives in Pakistan. When he was arrested for conspiring to kill Nayanar, the police had recovered belt bombs from him.